Temperature adjustable channel transmitter system including an injection-locked fabry-perot laser

Abstract

A tunable channel transmitter system for a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) passive optical network (PON) includes a WDM communication system having a plurality of WDM channel bandwidths, an injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser having a plurality of resonant modes, a seed light source to provide seed light to the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser, and a temperature control element configured to shift the plurality of resonant modes of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser to ensure that only one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for altering the wavelength of operation of a channel laser for a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) communication system, comprising:
 providing a WDM communication system having a plurality of WDM channels;   providing an injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser having a plurality of resonant modes;   providing a seed light to the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser; and   shifting the plurality of resonant modes of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser to ensure that no more than one of the plurality of resonant modes of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of shifting the plurality of resonant modes includes the step of controlling the temperature of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of providing a seed light includes providing the seed light from any of an external light source and a self seeded light source. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the temperature control comprises using a heating element. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the heating element is a resistive heating element. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , where the temperature control comprises using a thermo-electric device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser that is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system is a resonant mode which has an uncontrolled wavelength which is closest to the center wavelength of the WDM channel. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser that is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system is a resonant mode which has an uncontrolled wavelength which is shorter than the center wavelength of the WDM channel. 
     
     
         9 . A method for tuning a channel laser for a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) communication system, comprising:
 providing a WDM communication system having a plurality of WDM channels;   providing an injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser having a plurality of resonant modes;   providing a narrow linewidth seed light to the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser; and   shifting the plurality of resonant modes of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser to ensure that one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser is centered within a desired channel of the WDM communications system and is aligned with the narrow linewidth seed light.   
     
     
         10 . A tunable channel transmitter system for a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) passive optical network (PON), comprising:
 a WDM communication system having a plurality of WDM channel bandwidths;   an injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser having a plurality of resonant modes;   a seed light source to provide seed light to the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser; and   a temperature control element configured to shift the plurality of resonant modes of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser to ensure that only one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system.   
     
     
         11 . The channel transmitter system of  claim 10 , wherein the temperature control element comprises a heating element. 
     
     
         12 . The channel transmitter system of  claim 11 , wherein the heating element is a resistive heating element. 
     
     
         13 . The channel transmitter system of  claim 10 , wherein the temperature control element comprises a thermo-electric device. 
     
     
         14 . The channel transmitter system of  claim 10 , wherein the one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser that is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system is a resonant mode which has an uncontrolled wavelength which is closest to the center wavelength of the WDM channel. 
     
     
         15 . The channel transmitter system of  claim 10 , wherein the one resonant mode of the injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser that is locked to the seed source and transmitting a substantial portion of the laser power through a desired channel of the WDM communications system is a resonant mode which has an uncontrolled wavelength which is shorter than any wavelengths that pass through the WDM channel, and which has an uncontrolled wavelength which is closest to the center wavelength of the WDM channel.